Samsung awarded scholarships to Korean national team members who performed strongly at this year's International Science Olympiads, part of an effort to raise awareness of basic science and support talent that will drive future technology.
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), Samsung Biologics (207940.KS) and Samsung Bioepis said on the 17th that they had granted scholarships to 15 members of Korea's national teams who won medals in mathematics, physics and biology at this year's International Olympiads.
Each business unit invited the winners and their parents to major worksites for award ceremonies in the middle of the month. Samsung Electronics' Device eXperience (DX) division presented scholarships to six mathematics medalists at its Suwon campus on the 11th, while the Device Solutions (DS) division honored five physics medalists at its Hwaseong campus on the 13th. On the 14th, Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis recognized four biology medalists at their office in Songdo, Incheon. The chief executives of each division attended in person to congratulate the winners, including DX division head Roh Tae-moon, DS division head Jun Young-hyun and Samsung Bioepis CEO Kim Kyung-ah.
This year's International Olympiads were held over the course of July across four countries, including China (mathematics), Colombia (physics) and Lithuania (biology), with a separate competition for each subject. In physics and biology, all nine Korean participants each won gold medals, placing the country first overall in both subjects. In mathematics, where 666 competitors from 117 countries took part, the Korean team won three gold medals, two silver medals and one honorable mention, finishing sixth overall.
The scholarships are part of a science and engineering talent development project that Samsung is pursuing. Samsung Electronics signed sponsorship agreements with the Korean Mathematical Society and the Korean Physical Society in June last year, and the two Samsung Bio units signed a formal sponsorship agreement with the Korean Association for Biology Education in January this year. Based on these agreements, Samsung covers all costs of selecting and training the national teams and of participating in international competitions, and pays separate scholarships to top winners at the main events.
Samsung is also steadily expanding investment to secure talent in future technologies such as basic science and software. Since 2007, it has sponsored the national team for the WorldSkills Competition from the training stage, and it has made special hires of high-school-educated technical talent who placed in domestic and international skills competitions. Through the Samsung Software & AI Academy for Youth (SSAFY), launched in 2018, it has placed about 10,000 practically trained developers at major companies to date. More recently, it has moved early to introduce SSAFY 2.0, an overhaul of the curriculum centered on artificial intelligence (AI), accelerating its efforts to cultivate the next generation of technology talent.
